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Posted: Friday, 21 August 2009 10:45AM

Plane Crashes Near Teterboro Airport



TETERBORO, NJ (WCBS 880)  -- A small plane has crashed while on approach to Teterboro Airport in Bergen County, New Jersey.

The wreckage of a small plane is seen after crashing near Teterboro AirportThe twin-engine Beechcraft aircraft had two people on board - the pilot and co-pilot. Both were being hospitalized.

LISTEN:
Sean Adams reports on the crash
Peter Haskell reports on Teterboro's safety record

The plane crashed on the property of the Flomo company at 698 Route 46 West shortly after 3am on Friday.

Both men were taken to St. Barnabas Medical Center. The pilot, identified as George Maddox, 54, of Sinking Springs, Pa., was listed in critical condition. Co-pilot Sanil Gopinath, 42, of Laurel, Md., was listed in serious condition.

Route 46 is open between Industrial Avenue and Green Street, but only one lane is getting through westbound. Green Street is closed at the perimeter of the airport.

When emergency personnel arrived, they found the pilot and co-pilot alert and sitting at a bus stop.

The airport was closed following the crash, but reopened at about 7am.

The cause of the crash are yet known.

Bergen County police and fire crews were on the scene.

The Port Authority says that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the crash.

A Challenger jet sits partially in a warehouse after going off the runwayThe plane was flying out of Reading, PA and was carring blood specimens for Quest Diagnostics.

Teterboro Airport is a general aviation facility operated by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.

This comes less than two weeks after a small Piper aircraft collided with a sightseeing helicopter over the Hudson River, killing all nine aboard the two aircraft.

On August 12, a small plane crashed after taking off from Sussex County Airport.

In 2005, a corporate jet went off the runway at Teterboro, crashed through a fence and crossed a highway before smashing into a warehouse. Twenty people were injured.

© 2009 WCBS 880, All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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